The Effects of Overtraining: Recognising the Signs

Staying fit is the latest trend, but overtraining can result in chronic fatigue and muscle loss. In a bid to lose weight quickly and to get abs fast one can strain the muscles and this can cause side effects. Arnav Sarkar, our Strength and Conditioning coach explains the effects of overtraining.

With advertisements in magazines, TV, internet promising great results in 12 weeks or less, who wants to plan for a year these days? And yet, most of these quick fixes never seem to deliver even half the results they promise. While you may initially be fresh enough to push your body far beyond its limit, injuries will soon start surfacing and will slow you down.

The best athletes, models, and celebrities that you may idolise, have built their bodies over a long period of time, so do not fall in the trap of overtraining. Besides slowing down your progress, here is what overtraining is likely to do to your body:

Cause muscle loss

Slow down fat burning

Make you more prone to sickness

Make you more irritable and moody

Make you weaker, and reduce your stamina

Overall, you feel and look terrible. Of course, very often what adds to overtraining is poor sleep and insufficient diet, so make sure that you do the right thing outside the gym. And in the gym, keep training to no more than 60 minutes, unless you are already a competitive athlete. Also, do keep in mind that your body builds muscle outside the gym, so no point killing yourself.